Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Throughout the story, the narrator and his father struggle to communicate with one another.

• What underlying conflict fuels the difficulty in their communication? (topic sentence)
• Identify and explain three passages in which the narrator and his father struggle to communicate.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how the communication between these two characters develops the theme of Loss and Death.

2. Consider the significance of Gender Roles within the story.

• How do gender roles impact the characters’ relationships with one another? (topic sentence)
• Identify three passages in which characters reject stereotypical gender expectations.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, state what is suggested about gender roles when a character or characters reject stereotypes.

3. Analyze Kazuo Ishiguro’s use of suspense in this story.